Drinking of Christ's Cup
7/10 Reading Portions: Joshua 12-13; Psalm 145; Jeremiah 6; Matthew 20
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
7/10 Reading Portions: Joshua 12-13; Psalm 145; Jeremiah 6; Matthew 20
Matthew 20:22
Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
OPPOSITE
We are often ignorant of the sufferings which come with true Christianity… because we are ignorant of, or forget about, or forsake altogether, the sufferings of Christ. The Lord Jesus had just explained to His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to suffer betrayal from the chief priests” and scribes’ mockery, cruel torture, and crucifixion by the Gentiles (Matt 20:17-19). Yet James and John saw an opportunity to get their mother to ask that they be allowed to sit at the Lord’s right hand and left in His kingdom. When the Lord Jesus suffered incredible, indescribable torture before going to the cross (Isa 52:14), it was so He, who was sinless and perfect (Isa 53:9b), would suffer the eternal wrath of God spiritually when He was at His weakest point physically. Christ’s sacrifice for our sins was that thorough and complete. The ignorance and corruptions of our flesh would try to convince us: “If Christ’s sufferings were so complete, then why must we then suffer?” You see, we are not removed from the sufferings in this world because the world is a cold, cruel, corrupt place. Yet in God’s plan, providence, and gospel design, the hatred, temptations, tribulations, we suffer builds our character as Christians (Rom 5:3-5), makes us more like Christ by what we suffer (Rom 8:28-29), because it causes us to trust in Christ implicitly and more intimately (Prov 3:5-6), just as the Lord Jesus as a Man was ever and always led by the Holy Spirit (Matt 4:1; Rom 8:14), trusting in the Father for all things (John 6:38). When Jesus drank the cup of the cross, He drank down the full penalty of God’s wrath you and I rightly deserve. So now, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we may drink of a cup that is empty of God’s wrath (1 Thess 5:9), because Christ Jesus drank down every last drop (Psa 75:8). Not one drop of wrath remains. But the cup which contained God’s wrath, now empty in the Lord’s hand, contains the precious communion wine of forgiveness. We are nourished by the contents of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and shed blood. Yet we partake of this forever fellowship via the sufferings in this world; that is, you [and I] are able to drink the cup of suffering. Our flesh wants to be strong or sit on thrones. Until Jesus returns, however, the opposite is true. We reign with Him and are strongest for Him when we are weak on earth and must rely upon Him for all things and in all circumstances (2 Cor 12:10); for, says Christ Jesus to us,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Hallelujah! What a Savior!